


Sonic the Hedgehog: Moment's Chance

by Mura Lunwich (Mura_cle)



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Continuation, Gen, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27810031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mura_cle/pseuds/Mura%20Lunwich
Summary: It's been radio silence since his defeat at the tower. The Resistance has improved conditions following the end of Eggman's rule, but some dust refuses to settle. Factories are restarting, yet the Egg Pawns move without purpose. Moreover, new types of robots are being produced, dissimilar to the designs Eggman usually creates. With these strange happenings, Sonic and company are forced to investigate, but when time begins to crumble, could it already be too late?
Kudos: 3





	Sonic the Hedgehog: Moment's Chance

# Sonic the Hedgehog: Moment's Chance

#  by Mura Lunwich

## Prologue

A collection of explosions reverberated the air-conditioned atmosphere, sending jitters to the metallic ground and the deep pits surrounding it. Upon landing, the black hedgehog’s shoes moved forward, its jets giving him a small speed boost. He skated across the floor, arms heaving back and forth, focusing on nothing but what was ahead.

“The pawns don’t seem to be trying to attack,” he muttered.

“They aren’t? Strange,” said a disembodied feminine, high-pitched voice. He held his hand to his right ear.

“’Strange’ would be an understatement,” replied the hedgehog. “There are all sorts of activity going on, but none of it is organized. The robots are wandering around with no purpose.”

“None are hostile whatsoever?” asked the voice.“None. The most unsettling part is that this is Eggman’s territory, yet it doesn’t feel like it.”

“No big, bombastic, neon lights or anything?”

“Not even a peep of his irksome voice, either. If he knew I was here, he would let me know.”

“I’m going to see if there are any radio frequencies I can intercept. In the meantime, Shadow, keep investigating.”

“Roger.” The audio cut out completely. “I doubt Rouge will actually find anything. Whoever it is, they’re doing it as discreetly as possible… though obviously not enough for us to make a stop here in the first place.  
Shadow glanced towards the walls, and then made a powered leap forward. He landed on a rail, and as the sparks flew from beneath his shoes, he continued to rush forward. The extravagance of Eggman’s layouts was definitely not lost, but the atmosphere was void of it. It raised the fur on Shadow’s arms, but the cause wasn’t fear—not at all.

There was a glaring question that Shadow just had to find the answer to.

He made it into the vents and sped forward. His eyes scanned each opening, making sure to note anything of interest. When he looked forward, he noticed one of the openings leaking a significant amount of light into tight corridor. He learned back and let the sides of his shoes slide against the metal floor, creating some sparks as he slowed down to a stop. Once he approached the vent door and peered down, his attention locked onto what appeared to be a large screen. There were windows up with diagrams and shapes, but he couldn’t comfortably see behind the vent holes. After making sure no one was in the room, Shadow stomped down on the door and hopped through the new opening.

Upon landing, he analyzed what was displayed across the enormous screen. It appeared to be design prints of some new robots, but… given that this was Eggman’s factory, the blueprints seemed out of character.

“Huh. Either the Doctor’s tastes changed, or someone else is designing these robots,” mumbled Shadow. He touched his earpiece and waited for a blip. “Hey, Rouge, there haven’t been any signs of the Doctor, right?”

“Huh? Oh, Eggman? N-no, there hasn’t been any sightings, but we can’t be sure that he’s gone for good,” said Rouge. “Err… Shadow, have you met anyone over there yet? Or at least saw anyone?”

“No. Why?” asked he. Her nervous chuckle caused his brows to furrow.

“Um… I haven’t picked up any communication, but that’s because all attempts to access the channels result in garbled noise. I’m assuming the channels are encrypted, else there wouldn’t be anything to hear at all.”

“Could it be interference?”

“No. It would be just plain white noise, then,” answered Rouge. “By the way, what made you ask about Eggman?”

“I found some blueprints in the computer room—”

“Whoa, you found it?”

“—and the designs don’t match up with the Doctor’s preferences. There’s something wrong here, Rouge.”

“You’re telling me,” she replied. “See what you can download, then head back to G.U.N. headquarters. We might be able to—”

“Hold that thought.” Shadow disabled the communicator and turned around. Two enormous robots—reminiscent of the ones he fought during his early days with Rouge and their rogue robot friend—had entered the room, equipped with hammers and indiscriminate lust for violence. “Seems like the welcome party arrived—tch, I’m starting to sound just like him.”

Upon closer analysis, Shadow’s first reaction was suppressed. Knocking them down before going all-in wouldn’t seem to work: their legs—all eight of them—would prevent that from happening. Their wide shoulders meant their hammers would hit harder than he would like and blasting them with Chaos Spear wouldn’t penetrate enough. Their matte purple and blue chassis and red traffic light-esque face could intimidate any civilian—more than the rustic, dull pawns that roamed during Eggman’s rule.

“I have to retreat,” decided Shadow. “No time to download files.”

In a sudden burst, Shadow sped right past the two giant robots, both of whom attempted to grab at him. The door was sealed, but it proved useless against the agent’s momentum. He drifted through an intersection and ran down the path of a hallway.  
He went through several doors and halls, turning away as more of those robots descended upon him, eager to strike him down. Then, when he approached a very large set of doors—the size of two colossal robots stacked on each other—and rushed through it, he found something that convinced him to slow down.

“What… is this…?” Shadow gritted his teeth.

The robots attacking him were nothing in comparison to the ones hanging in the hangar. He walked forward and took out his camera. He snapped pictures of the sharp shoulders, rugged and fortified armor, and blocky, ridged head, also equipped with a similar traffic light-like face hidden by presumably bullet-proof glass. As he took pictures, he reactivated his earpiece.

“What happened?” said Rouge. “You cut out suddenly!”

“Got attacked. The robots look smarter than Eggman’s usual toys, but… we need some experts,” reported Shadow.

“Wait, where are you now?”

“In some sort of hangar. There’s… well… it’s easier for me to show you once I get back. Call Team Chaotix; they’re going to want to look into this as well.”

“Wait, you want those clowns to join?” Rouge didn’t sound too pleased.

“They’re the best we have, and though I hate to say it, they get the job done,” said Shadow.

“Must be big if you want to call them in.”

“’Big’ is one word to describe it.”

* * *

# Chapter 1 – Whiplash

For most people, it was another day of freedom. Months have passed since the world was freed from Doctor Eggman’s tyranny, and now, peace can be heard across the realm. In this case, it was Sonic’s snoring as he slept soundly on a hammock, swaying back and forth while the tropical breeze brushed against the blue blur. It was a quiet day. Most of the ambient sound came from the tweeting flickies flying around the palm trees; some of it came from the distant shoreline.

A newspaper headlined with “RECONSTRUCTION FINISHED: BACK TO BUSINESS” was spread across Sonic’s face, anchored down by a blue bird resting on Sonic’s nose. It seemed unbothered by his snoring, though the volume indicated it may be time for the hedgehog to invest in some nasal aids.

Such serene solidarity was meant to be broken.

In a flash, Sonic was spun and trapped inside the hammock as the blue bird flew away in panic, and as quickly as it became done, the hammock undid itself and plopped the sleeping snorer onto the ground face-first.

“Ow!” he yelped. He got up and shook the dirt off his face, and he investigated the source of the sudden wind.

It left quite a mess in its trail: the grass was torn and dislodged, the trees lost a significant amount of their leaves, and a mound of dirt piled behind the source. Sonic’s eyes squinted as he approached the figure, and once he recognized the gray shape, he immediately sped up to a jog.

“Hey, _Silver?_ ” He stopped on a dime and put his hand out for the rattled time-traveler.

“Ugh….” He barely kept his consciousness from the landing—that much was obvious. He wearily looked up, and then his mouth hung open as the bottoms of his eyes raised. “Why… am I here…?”

“Why _are_ you here? I thought you went back to the future to check things out,” said Sonic.

“No, right, I did. I did go to the future because….” The silver hedgehog closed his eyes and recollected. “Uh… crud. I went there to investigate something, and after one thing led to the next… ah, that’s right. I was thrown back into this place. But… a lot of things happened, so… _am_ I in the past…?”

“You’re not making sense, bud,” said Sonic.

“I know,” sighed Silver. He realized Sonic was still offering his hand, and with a soft clap, the blue hedgehog heaved Silver onto his feet. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Sounds like you have quite a mess on your hands.”

“No kidding. Where’s Tails? If anyone can keep track of how I’m about to explain it, it’d be him,” said Silver.

“Should be in his shop. Let’s go check.” Of course, Sonic was already a step ahead, and by the time Silver took a step forward, Sonic was already at the door. He knocked twice, listened for a response, and upon receiving nothing, he walked in.

“Is he there?” Silver was still running over to Sonic.

“Oh, right. He’s at the new Resistance headquarters in Metropolis,” said Sonic. “Apparently G.U.N. found something, and they want the previous and current Resistance members to come check it out.”

“And… you’re not there because…?”

“I needed a nap.” Sonic shrugged and threw in a wink. “Besides, I’m not a fan of just sitting there and listening. Although… since _you’re_ here now, there’s a chance that we’re about to go on another adventure.”

“An adventure. Right.” Silver scratched the back of his head and looked down. “Great. (It’s definitely not going to be simple, though.)”

“C’mon! The city isn’t too far away from here,” said Sonic, already hopping towards his destination.

“What, just tens of miles?”

“You bet!”

“I see you haven’t changed a bit.”

“It’s only been a few months.” His voice was growing distant. Silver took a deep breath, and as his psyche flowed through him, he thrusted himself forward, shooting across the lands at similar speeds as the winds following the speedster.

Adjacent to South Island was Luminous Forest, though that wasn’t the path they were taking. Sonic knew a shortcut between Metropolis and South Island, which took them through a sanctuary for the flickies.

“’Bodacious Lagoon.’ I love coming here for the view, if not the li’l flickies that jump and fly around here,” introduced Sonic.

“You guys secured land for them after the war?” inquired Silver.

“Yeah, and the process was pretty simple. With Eggman gone, all of his bots shut down. That made freeing the buddies simple, and so we gave them a place where we can watch over them while they ran free. And with that lake right there, it was a no-brainer.” Sonic pointed at the bright reflection of the wide body of water. Silver looked where he pointed, and his eyes twinkled at the sight of it. Water sparkled like it was covered in glitter, and surrounding it were flying creatures of various colors and species. By the beaches, the ground critters frolicked in the sun, forgetting that there was ever a time they were captured.

The trees of the jungle shook as they sped through, though they soon came to a standstill once the air calmed down. Sonic went up and around the trees, navigating through the areas that were relatively sparse in tall plants.

“Wait…” Silver squinted towards Sonic’s path. “You said Eggman’s robots were disabled, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Then why are there a few wandering there?”

“What?” Sonic looked up to see where Silver was looking at, and then headed towards that general direction. He spotted the gray pawns and promptly dashed through them, knocking them into the air and causing them to explode, freeing the flickies inside. “That’s… concerning.”

“Do you reckon Eggman is still around?” asked Silver.

“Around? Maybe. Back? Not likely.” Sonic turned and intentionally ran into any of the strays he found, but constantly shifting off-path was slowing him down. “They’re not grouping together or anything. There’re usually rows of them trying to stop me, but they’re all scattered.”

“I’ll get them with my Psychokinesis. You just take care of the ones on your path,” commanded Silver.

“Gotcha.” Sonic sped up and rushed forward, quick-stepping past the trees and ramming the pawns in his way. “The fact that they’re roaming means something activated them, right?”

“Could be. But if they’re not sending commands to them, what’s the point?” said Silver.

“Beats me. If they started yesterday, that would explain why we were suddenly called down today.”

“Let’s hope it’s just a bug or something and… actually….”

“What’s up?”

“Things aren’t looking good. If my suspicions are correct, the villain arrived in this world. And if that’s the case, that would explain why Eggman’s robots are acting up.”

“Villain? Who are you talking about?”

“In the Sol Dimension, Blaze and I were dealing with a threat. He was crafty and smart, not unlike Doctor Eggman Nega.”

“Ugh. Eggman by himself was already a pain—two of him was _awful_. Wait, didn’t we fight a younger version of Eggman, too?”

“Err… yeah, but that’s not relevant. This guy knew how to code program his robots to use tactics instead of wailing at us. He even knew how to… how to….” Silver’s voice faded as he recounted the events.

“How to…?”

Silver stayed silent for a little while.

“I… can’t remember. That’s weird—why can’t I remember?”

“You can’t remember what he was doing? You sure you didn’t hit your head too hard when you crash landed?”

“I crash landed, and before that I….” Silver shook his head vigorously. “It’s no use. I can’t remember what I was doing there.”

“If we can find Blaze, maybe she’ll know what the blazes is going on.” Sonic looked up, and his ears perked once he realized where they were about to arrive at. “We still got a ways to go, but check this out!”

By the lake was a mountain that towered over the surrounding flora. Though not to the point of snow, it rose high enough to cause Sonic’s ears to pop every time he swallowed. It was devoid of trees, but that meant a clearer look of Bodacious Lagoon as he ran through. On the other side was a silhouette of Metropolis, one of the major cities on the continent.

“There it is.” Sonic took a moment to admire the scenery. Great, white buildings scraped the skies, reflecting the sunrays and making the surrounding areas almost glow in response. Some buildings spiraled upwards while others took up enough space to let Sonic get a running start through the rooftops. “At night, Metropolis looks really cool from here. All the lights and noise… it’s way different from the southern part of Mystic Jungle.”

“You can see where it influenced Casino Jungle, too,” exclaimed Silver. “Around where the mountain declines, you can see some of the development in the forest.”

“Oh, you’re right! Didn’t even realize that.” Sonic looked up, and the sight of buzz-bombers only added to his questions. “Them too?” He jumped up and curled into a ball, propelling himself right into the path of the closest flying robot. As it exploded beneath him, he backflipped into the air before repeating the same action towards the next one. “At this rate, I could just use my Homing Attack all the way to Metropolis.” Immediately after his next one, Sonic realized there weren’t anymore close enough for him to target, and he descended towards the ground. Silver swooped in and grabbed him by the hand, taking him along across the land.

“The fact that buzz-bombers are here too isn’t a good sign,” said Silver.

“ _None_ of these are good signs,” corrected Sonic.

Sonic directed the psychic hedgehog to the headquarters, which sat around the eighth floor, equipped with a balcony for easy access for flying mammals. They landed on the white brick floor decorated with flowers from Green Hill, and Sonic invited himself into the room.

“Yo! What’d I miss?” Sonic raised his hand and grinned. The others—which included all three members of Team Chaotix, Rouge, some G.U.N. representatives, Tails, and Amy—were either silent or sighed (the lattermost was ecstatic over his arrival).

“So, you _did_ decide to come,” said Rouge. “Here I thought you just blew us off.”

“C’mon, you know I don’t like meetings,” said Sonic. “And, uh, besides… I didn’t catch a wink last night.”

“Oh, that’s my fault,” said Tails. “I didn’t realize I was making so much noise in the workshop.”

“Naw, you’re good. So, anyone know anything about the badniks up and about lately?”

Rouge pointed a remote at the projector above her and backtracked to the beginning of the slideshow. “We found one of Eggman’s factories in use yesterday. Shadow went in to recon, and what he found was… kind of disturbing.” She clicked the remote, revealing various pictures that were taken.

“They look like new robots, but they don’t look like they were made by Eggman,” said Vector. “Can’t tell ya who owns the style.”

“We suspect someone took ownership of the factory and printed their own designs, but to do that without knowing any of Eggman’s credentials would be a tough task,” said Espio.

“Right. G.U.N. can’t hack into his database because of how heavily encrypted it is. That means either someone was smart enough to guess his password, or they managed to decrypt the database,” explained Rouge. “It’s only been a few months since we started reconstruction, and the type of encryption he uses takes ages to crack without help.”

“I think Eggman used a bad password,” said Charmy. “That’s just a guess, though.”

“R-Regardless,” Tails walked to the center of the room and turned as he talked. “Assuming this person started after Eggman’s defeat, to crack the encryption in just a few months is impressive work. G.U.N.’s been at it for, what, decades?”

“And no luck,” said Amy.

“Right. Not even I can get in, either. The closest look I got was when the Zetis left the computer unlocked,” continued Tails.

“You couldn’t dig any deeper since the planet was about to be destroyed, _and_ you were busy saving yourself,” added Sonic.

“Indeed.”

“More factories have been rebooted as a result, each of them making the same type of robots. And their defenses got tighter, too—Shadow was having trouble sneaking past them, but Chaos Control seems to have gone undetected.”

“Any signs of Eggman?” asked Sonic.

“Nope,” said Vector. “Not at all.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” said Tails, “these new robots are being built with harder and smarter hardware. Eggman’s pawns and flying bots would crumple with a single Homing Attack, and his bigger robots would take a little bit longer. Now, it takes a lot more effort to destroy just one, and that’s if you managed to avoid their own attacks.”

“Sounds like I’ll be throwing down like I did back in 2003,” joked Sonic.

“More like 2008, but we don’t talk about that,” retorted Tails. “(I’m still not sure what happened after that.)”

“That’s about all we discussed until you came in,” concluded Rouge. “Hey, why _did_ you show up all of a sudden?”

“Silver?” Amy gawked at gray hedgehog next to the balcony door. Everyone turned to face him as well, and the sudden attention caused his cheeks to flush.

“Uh… oh, right.” He shook his head and focused. “I was forced back here by a villain whose name I can’t recall. I went into the future before I ended up in the Sol Dimension. I was helping Blaze out when… the details are fuzzy, for some reason, but I was sent packing during that.”

“It _is_ a possibility that the villain you speak of has arrived in this dimension,” said Espio. “If so, if they were cunning enough to outwit the likes of you, it’s plausible that they _may_ have the intelligence to defeat Eggman’s security protocols.”

“Actually, there’s something that’s been bothering me,” said Silver. “Sonic was telling me that the badniks were operating by themselves since they were reactivated, right?”

“Right,” said Amy.

“That means they had the ability to act on their own this entire time, albeit with no direction,” continued Silver.

“Indeed,” agreed Rouge.

“So… if that’s the case, who disabled the badniks in the first place?”

It was a silencing question that was answered with glances and confusion.


End file.
